The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
U.S. PatentsU.S. Pat. No.Kind CodeIssue DatePatentee6,239,706B12001 May 29Nobuyuki Yoshiike, ShigeyukiInoue, Kazuhiko Hashimoto7,253,366B22007 Aug. 7Aziz A. Bhai8,466,801B22013 Jun. 18Stephen Hayes, StephenHollyoak5,764,153A1998 Jun. 9Richard M. Vedaa
U.S. patent application PublicationsPublication Nr.Kind CodePubl. DateApplicant20110085423A12011 Apr. 14Brian Cottrell
A traditional alarm clock is minimally comprised of a display, a speaker, and controls to configure the current time, an alarm turn-on time, and a switch to enable or disable the alarm function. Traditional alarm clocks do not include any feature to prevent a bed's occupant from oversleeping past a designated alarm turn-on time. The occupant can disable or reset a triggered alarm and oversleep past the originally designated alarm turn-on time.
Nobuyuki et al disclose a system to determine a bed occupant's load and sleep state. The system was designed to operate in a hospital setting only. The alarm is only designed to alert a caregiver acting in a monitoring role. The alarm is not designed to perform a wake-up function.
Bhai discloses a system designed to emit an alarm if an occupant is exiting a bed. The system was designed to operate in a hospital setting only. The alarm is only designed to alert a caregiver acting in a monitoring role. The alarm is not designed to perform a wake-up function.
Hayes et al disclose a system to emit an alarm if excessive movement is detected. The system was designed to operate in a hospital setting only. The alarm is only designed to alert a caregiver acting in a monitoring role. The alarm is not designed to perform a wake-up function.
Vedaa discloses a conventional alarm clock with a pressure-controlled mechanical switch which does not prevent the occupant from disabling a triggered alarm. The occupant must manually calibrate the sensitivity of the mechanical switch by process of trial-and-error. The switch can only detect an occupant's weight in a limited region of an entire sleeping surface.
Cottrell discloses an alarm clock which uses a single load cell sensor placed under a single bedpost. Placing a rigid load cell assembly under a rigid bed frame structure will create an uneven weight distribution over the bed frame and bedposts. This will cause wobbliness of the entire bed structure and excessive weight-related damage to the bed frame. An occupant can bypass the weight sensor by shifting his or her weight away from the weight sensor and closer to a bedpost without an attached sensor.
Cottrell describes a sensor circuit comprised of a voltage divider circuit with no amplification method. This type of circuit has the inherent disadvantages of low sensitivity and low measurement accuracy. This type of circuit is also susceptible to inaccurate measurements due to temperature fluctuation. Cottrell describes controls that includes an on/off switch for the alarm whereby even if the occupant has not left the bed, he or she can disable the alarm and oversleep past the originally designated alarm turn-on time.
All wake-up alarms heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages:
a) They can be disabled by the occupant after the alarm turn-on time has elapsed.
b) Their manufacture requires the inclusion of a display to show the current time thereby increasing manufacture cost.
c) Their manufacture requires the inclusion of an input device to configure the current time, alarm turn-on time, and other alarm settings thereby increasing manufacture cost.